Gumplowicz, Ludwig

Gumplowicz, Ludwig lo͞ot´vĭkh go͝om´plōvĭch [key], 1838–1909, Austrian sociologist, political scientist, and jurist. From 1897 to 1909 he was a professor at Graz. He held that social development rose out of conflict, first among races, then among states, then among other social groups. His theories are expressed chiefly in Der Rassenkampf [race conflict] (1883) and Grundriss der Soziologie (1885, tr. The Outlines of Sociology, 1899).